Lake Mead
Day 3
Should have used the Coolvest yesterday.
328 miles - estimated 6:33 hours
It's unfortunate but it's time to head home. Because we didn't
make it to Cottonwood Cove last night, today's ride is going to
be a long one. We are suppose to take Route 66 on our way back
but
let's see how the things pan out. It would be nice to get to
Victorville via the back roads but I don't know how realistic that
is.
We're all tired so there is a possibility we're going to skip sections
of Route 66.
As always, the first order of business is boiling water for some
intense instant coffee. Man o'man! This stuff sure hits
the
spot.
Amazing. The J&M Intergratr IV with the Li-on battery lasted
two days constant use without recharging. That's pretty amazing
considering the company reported the batter is suppose to last only 12
hours. That's an entire 36 hours beyond specs. This is with
a
lot of chatting on the 2 way radio and constant music streaming to the
ears. If ever I'm going to recommend a portable intercom to
anybody, this is it. For today I have to swap out the Li-on for
some regular alkaline batteries because the Li-on is finally dead.
We do our morning routine and pack up for the last time. I
jokingly ask the Captain whether he wants to go back to the casino for
breakfast. As expected, "No" is the answer. I think all
three of us have had our fill of the casino food. We're looking
forward to something like a Denny's for breakfast. Hopefully
we'll be able to find one in Boulder.
We're definitely getting
good at this packing and unpacking bit. It's about 10:00AM and
we're ready to jump on the road home. However, today I'm going to
use my Coolvest. The weather is predicted to be hot and I'm not
going to chance it like yesterday. I soak the vest in whatever is
left of the ice water in the cooler. The minute I throw the vest
on I experience instant relief. Wow! This is night and day
compared to the ambient temperature, which is in the high 80s
already. If we had used our Coolvest when touring Hoover Dam
yesterday, we probably wouldn't have succumb to heat exhaustion.
The scary thing is, we were being effected by the heat yesterday, but
we didn't realize it. We bid our fond farewell to the campsite
and ride out for the last time.
There's no freakin' Denny's or any type of restaurant on the 93 Hwy
(Nevada Hwy). Only fast food restaurants. How is a person
expected get a decent breakfast around here? As we reach the
outskirts of Boulder City, the Captain made a recommendation, "Why
don't we go ahead and go to Vegas? It's only 27 miles
away." Sure, why not. Las Vegas should have plenty of
places with good food. As we continue on the 93 Hwy towards
Henderson, we encounter the Railroad Pass Hotel & Casino.
"Do we want to eat here? Hopefully the food is better than the
last casino." We go for it anyway. At least it beats
traveling another 26 miles to get to Las Vegas. After all, we
have a good 300+ miles to get home.
Don't these casinos believe in cooling off their surroundings? A
couple of trees here and there wouldn't hurt. The all tarmac
packing lot is irradiating heat like we're in a 350 degrees oven.
Roasting like a bunch of chickens. It must be a ploy to
keep patrons inside to suck that one last penny out of our
pockets. It's working. At a minimum we're going to spend
our money to eat at this place.
Brunch buffet? $7 a person? Sold to the American! Not
bad at all. It's a much better
establishment than the Hacienda Hotel & Casino. However, I
made the mistake of ordering a custom omelet. I should have just
stuck to the food at the buffet. The pre-cooked eggs are actually
much better than the hand built omelet. Of course the buffet eggs
brings back a lot of memories about
powdered eggs even though I know we're not eating powdered eggs.
Nu and I have had our fill of powdered eggs
back when we were in Guam. You can't mistake the ever so slight
after taste of powdered eggs. As for the Captain, he's never
experienced powdered eggs. I think he missing out on a gourmet
experience. well, kind of. It's actually more a rite of
passage. We promise to let him try powdered eggs one of these
days just for the experience. Anyway, we're all glad to taste
good
food instead of bland food. If we're ever out here again, we'll
go to
the Railroad Pass Hotel & Casino instead.
"How far do you think it is to Searchlight?" asked Nu. "My guess
is it's about 50-60. It's suppose to be right in that saddle over
there. I don't know, I can't really tell from what the GPS was
telling me." Once again we're a bit concerned about the distance
to the next fuel stop. The last time we fueled up was right
before
we headed out for the Valley of Fire yesterday. That was a good
120+
miles round trip out and back. If Searchlight is less than 50
miles, we all
should be fine.
It's a nice curvy junction between the
93 and the 95 Hwy. Damn it's windy. There's even a dust
devil to boot. Man I don't want to go through one of those things
again. It'll rip the skin off of my face. Being unsure of
the distance to Searchlight, I slowed us all to 65 MPH
to conserve fuel and to keep us all under control from the heavy
winds. Fortunately it was only 41 miles to get to Terrible's
Casino. Well within our remaining fuel range. Once more we
fuel up. Now we don't
have to worry about fuel again for a while. This also means we
get to skip the Hi Sahara Oasis. The place that charges $6 for
premium fuel. Another 10 lbs of ice, several drinks, and we're
all set for the rest
of the day.
It's so nice to ride the downhill stretch of the
95 Hwy. The wind still whips us around but at least it's not as
bad as before. About 10 or so miles into the downhill stretch, Nu
chimes in on the radio to tell me that I lost something from my
bike. "What? Are you sure?" He saw something black
fly off and passed him really fast. "OK." I pull over to
the side of the road to have a quick check. Everything looks like
it's in order. I don't know what he's talking about. Oh
well, time to move on. While we're sitting on the side of the
road, an 18 wheeler passes us by. Still not being accustom to the
idea that big rig trucks can driver at 70 MPH, I'm anticipating we're
going to catch up and pass this guy. Boy am I ever wrong.
We nearly catchup, but we're unable to pass him. Just as well, I
rather not be pressured by something that views me as an insignificant
little insect. We keep our distance and let him do whatever he
likes. I much rather he turns SUVs into road kill instead of
us. I don't know if I'll ever get use to the idea of having to
drive at 90 MPH just to get away from these guys. I'll just stick
to the slow lane and avoid these mad men at all cost (e.g. let them
pass and be on their merry way while I hang back and try to relax).
Eventually we reach our turn out and make a right turn. Back on
Route 66 once more. This time around, it's really nice because
there aren't a lot of cars around. However, It didn't last
long. Car eventually stack up behind us because they're in a
hurry. 65 MPH on a 55MPH Hwy is just not fast enough these
days. Once we make it pass the railroad crossing, that we crosses
two days ago, we pull over to: let the metal horde pass, break for a
quick drink, and snap one or two photos of the train crossing.
"This is what you're suppose to do to get out of the Sun," says the
Captain.
This is the same train track crossing we got stuck at on the first day
of the trip.
Nu's pulling another Captain Morgan.
We pass the Hi Sahara Oasis and I'm just about ready to flash the bird
at the fine establishment. However, I restrained myself and
continued right pass the extremely crooked station. We pass the
train, and it passes us. We jockey positions for a while until we
stopped in Amboy once more. Wow, it's a Sunday and this place is
packed. Too bad they're not open for business. They could
make a killing if it was the case. That's OK, we don't need fuel
and we're stopping just for a restroom break. The filming crew
that was here two days ago is long gone. All I see are people
trying to get out from under the hot sun. What's worse, even if
your out from under the sun, the ambient air is still going to roast
you. 102F in the shade. I'm just glad that the R12R is not
having any problems with this temperature despite the fact it's air
cooled.
Yes, read 'em and weep. 102F in the shade.
Bagdad, Siberia, Klondike, and Ragtown. At best the temperature
is 99F. At worst the temperature is at 104F. We fuel up one
last time at Ragtown before making it all the way home. Funny
thing about this. As I pull out my wallet, an older receipt files
out of my pocket. It makes its way here and there while I decided
whether to give chase or not. In the end, I gave chase. It
meanders here and there until it makes it way to a Harley's rear
tire. "I guess I was meant to meet you today," I said. The
guy said "Hi" and proceeded to ask where we're heading. I said,
"We going home from a trip to Lake Mead." "Where is home?"
"LA." "I'm headed the opposite way." We both complained
about fuel prices for a while until it was time for me to get back to
what I was suppose to do, fuel up. The poor guy elaborated a bit
more and mentioned he is suffering from a bit of credit fraud.
Apparently, he used his credit card to fuel up at a gas station and
ended up getting charged $300 for it. It obvious someone stole
his number and are having fun using it. I can relate to the
problem. I can only imagine how many of us inocent people are
effect by fraud every day. I wished him luck in his endeavors and
bid him farewell.
The idea is to continue on Route 66 until we reach Victorville.
It was a nice idea until we truly experience Route 66 in all it's
glory. If I ever do this again, I'm taking a GS. The
section of road between Ragtown and Newberry Spring is insane. Nu
had to drop back because the Captain and myself were spitting rocks
everywhere. No to mention we're riding into a substantial
headwind. The added vibration from the wind on my windshield, and
the added noise coming through the helmet was making me go loopy.
I try to ride at a pace where we'll glide over the bumps on the road,
but it doesn't work. I even attempt to duck down behind the
windshield. Eventually, I had to stop. It's a good
decision. I'm on the verge of vomiting from the loud noise,
shock, and vibration. In the end, we give up on the idea of Route
66 and decided to hop on the 40 Fwy to head back. Is it much
better of an idea? Maybe, maybe not. Wherever there is
traffic, you can count on meeting up with idiots. 80 MPH isn't
good enough. Most cars want to drive at 90.
At last, Barstow. Now we just have to contend with the traffic
from people leaving Las Vegas to head back to LA. As if that
wasn't enough, we're being slapped silly by a heavy cross wind.
Being a naked bike, I don't have too many problems. On hte other
hand, the poor Captain was a sail boat. Nu and I can see him
struggle to fight against the wind. We're in the slow lane, and
there are still people tailgating us. Amazing. The problem
is, the people in the fast lane are driving slow are refusing to let
the fast people pass. As a result, the fast people are going into
the slow lane to pass the slow-fast people. Nuts. Why does
it always have to be pandemonium at the end of every trip? If
anything, it tells me the people of this world are lost and need to
slow down and see life for what it is. We make it into
Victorville at about 4:00 PM. At this point, we might as well
have dinner and then take the final stretch home. We stop at the
local Denny's for a rest and dinner.
None of us anticipated it was going to get this cold. Lake Mead
was in the 100+ and Victorville is in the high 40s. Talk about
extremes in temperature after just a 50 miles stretch. Nu thought
he could make it home with just the armor. No such luck. We
had to pull to the side of the freeway for him to add another layer of
clothing. I should have added the liner myself, but decided to
tough it out until we reach the LA basin. Pulling to the side of
the freeway is easy. Getting back on it with the rush of traffic
was insane. In the end we all got back on alive, and head for
home.
Eventually we strip off one by one. The Captain continued on the
15 Fwy until he reached the 10 Fwy. Nu and I took the 210 Fwy
until Nu broke off around Azusa. In the end it is another
successful trip with all involved surviving the crazy traffic
home. As always, it's an experience.
